Three Keys to How Schools Can Create a Sense of Belonging
Students, families and staff all must have a sense of belonging in the education process – it’s a necessity, not something nice to have, according to Ty Harris and Miranda Scully, both 2025 EdWeek Leaders To Learn From. Harris is the director of the office for opportunity and achievement at the Virginia Beach City public…
Four Ways to Keep Students Engaged as Attention Spans Shrink
Adjusting lesson plans to recognize the reality of shrinking attention spans and increasing distractions can help students become more active in their learning and more engaged with the material presented, according to an article in K-12 Dive. Tap into students’ attention, increase their motivation, and you can foster learning instead of hoping your course material…
How to Build Student-Teacher Connections in Those Tricky Middle School Years
Developmentally, middle schoolers want someone to connect to, “but they are also trying to break away from their parents,” says Jennifer Ciok in a K-12 Dive article. She is the middle grades network manager of coaching and improvement for the To&Through Project at the University of Chicago. It is a very confusing time in life…
Microschools Are Moving into the Mainstream
Microschools are less “micro” than they were a year ago, according to the latest analysis of the sector from the National Microschooling Center, shared exclusively with The 74. The median number of students in a typical microschool was 16 in 2024. That number is now 22. This is the result of the increased experience of…
Decoding Words Is Often a Blind Spot in Reading Instruction
Teachers often assume that once students master decoding in early elementary school, they’re set to shift from learning to read to reading to learn, writes Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the book “How the Other Half Learns” (Avery, 2019), in a column in The 74. But researchers…
How a Tennessee District Is Using AI to Close Literacy Gaps
To improve English language arts performance in Sumner County Schools, a Nashville, Tenn. regional district serving 30,200 students across 52 schools, Director of Schools Scott Langford is leveraging artificial intelligence so teachers can focus more attention on students needing additional guidance and those requiring a higher level challenge, according to an article in K-12 Dive….
How AI Is Evolving from Fears to the Future of Learning
Educators interviewed by The Washington Times say the evolution of AI in schools has unfolded in three stages: banning generative AI to prevent cheating, developing AI usage policies and requiring “strategic integration” of AI literacy instruction. “Initially, there was panic, fear about cheating, misinformation, loss of jobs, but the conversation has matured,” says Gadi Kovler,…
Lagging Students Can Benefit from These 5 Practices to Catch Up in Math
Across every grade and part of the country, students in every racial, income and disability group have stagnated or regressed in math performance since 2015, eliminating nearly two decades of math progress across the country, according to an article in Education Week. A survey of educators conducted by the EdWeek Research Center this spring shows…
Four Essentials to Help Students Evaluate AI-Generated Content
Teachers still assign projects on anything from wolves and genetic engineering to drug abuse or the Harlem Renaissance, but the way students approach these assignments has changed dramatically, writes Dr. Steve Baule in eSchool News. Dr. Baule is a faculty member at Winona State University (WSU), where he teaches in the Leadership Education Department. Prior…
Three Methods for Teaching Healthy Video Consumption
There are many ways that video content on cellphones, laptops or interactive whiteboards (including movies on streaming services, video clips on social media, and more) can both harm and help teens, according to a report from the American Psychological Association and detailed in an Education Week article. Teaching students the skills to use video content…
